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Topic Review (Newest First)

01-11-2013 02:40 AM

sfcarve

I joined this site just to answer OP's post.

I suffered from the exact same thing on steeper blues/blacks.. short, overturned heelside turns that ended in skidding. Your picture summed it up perfectly.

What helped me finally is that I realized I was opening my shoulders majorly before switching edges.. the steeper the hill the more I turned to face the fall line in advance of the turn.. trying to make my board swing around faster.

What finally fixed this was forcing my shoulders to stay parallel with my board and initiating the turn by flexing my front knee and using my ankles and feet to switch edges and start the turn with no upper body rotation. Its a little gnarly on a steep hill to flip to your downhill heelside edge with your back to the fall line, but once you prove to yourself it works, you get so much better turn shape and speed control.

Hope that helps!

01-04-2013 09:50 AM

kayakBoy

One of the things that helps me is mental.

If I start to get squirrelly, usually when tired, I try to visualize that my hips, legs, and board are hanging from my upper body instead of my upper body being supported by the lower.

For some reason, this seems to help keeping balanced and makes the edge to edge transitions cleaner - I unweight edge, shift to other edge, then apply weight again.

12-26-2012 08:05 AM

XR4Ti

Hehe, yeah. Don't try to stick out your butt with straight legs! You have to bend at the knees (& not at the waist, which means you're also bending at the ankles) otherwise you won't get up on the edge.

12-25-2012 11:31 PM

NoirX252

You don't want to actually stick your butt out by straightening your legs, riding at low angles (compared to a race alpine), there is a very large assymetric motion between toesides and heel sides. toesides, u naturally bend low, to increase edge angle, u still want to bend low heel sides, try using ur ankles as much as possible to tilt it high up, u must keep the same distance from your butt->board on both turns. don't let ur butt/center of mass get further away, or u will absolutely slip out in all but the most forgiving snow conditions.

Try sticking your butt out more. It will help you get lower, get more edge, and make it easier to get more weight on your front foot, which should give you the control/confidence to reduce your angle.

12-24-2012 03:44 AM

amirh1

@Snowolf, I want to understand this dynamic thing better, did some reading in other posts (some of them yours). I have a couple of questions about this:
* How does dynamic turning help me feel more in control/control my speed? The way I brake is by ruddering/scrubbing, but it seems to me that dynamic turns have less brake control. What happens if I have to stop?
* I think I understand the cross-under technique. But cross-over - isn't that what I'm doing in basic link turns, what they teach beginners? When I transition from toe to heel my body crosses over the board from toe to heel side - so how is this different from dynamic cross-over?

Thanks!

12-23-2012 05:51 PM

jml22

Not only does being dynamic help in various terrain it's just all around more fun turning the way in the video. Way more fun than all the ruddering and like snap rotations i see/used to do

12-23-2012 08:20 AM

Slush Puppie

One particular thing you should notice it that when you are really being dynamic that feeling of "oh shit I have to point the the board down that hill" almost goes away. The mechanics of the leg extension mean that by the time your body starts to pick up vertical speed during the turn, the board has already made the turn and all you have to do is slow yourself down by compressing your legs and arresting the body's vertical motion. Even when initiating the first turn on the steeps, crunch right down and 'stand up' as you start to turn. It feels like this very motion initiates the turn positively. The turn will be done in a flash and you will be in control at all times. It's a great feeling and steep no longer feels steep once you get it.

The photo i linked to earlier is around 45deg (probably 55 at the very top) no more than a few meters wide. I rode that at about 30days experience. And felt confident and controlled the whole way down using this technique. Hopefully this is actually visible in the reasonably tidy line. Let me tell you, getting first tracks (for the season) down somewhere like this at my level of experience was a mind-blowing experience

Once I stopped being so stiff legged and began to hop around from edge to edge, use my core and upper body to shift my weight quicker, and make my body more "liquid," I noticed an extremely dramatic improvement in my riding, especially at high speeds and on steeps.

It is important to ride within your abilities, so working on these things at a comfortable pace is crucial to staying safe. Don't worry, if you have a desire to improve and the willpower, you will get better in time.

In regards to that video, I have tried listening to my iPod on the hill and find it distracting and puts me in a bubble. I do like to listen to it on the lift, however. To each their own.

12-23-2012 12:08 AM

t21

for shit and giggles i did what the OP was describing(blue line) on a black run.since were both regular footed, i wanted to see how i would approach a run especially if there were some icy spots. it was the quickest way down with probably two turns then bomb it. felt good